Albany College of Pharmacy students earn trip to national Clinical Skills CompetitionNovember 26, 2003

ALBANY, N.Y. – Limor Schwarzbard and Shannon Rivers, sixth-year students at Albany College of Pharmacy, have won the college’s annual Clinical Skills Competition. The two advance as a team to the national competition at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists’ mid-year clinical meeting Dec. 6-11 in New Orleans.

Sponsored by the ASHP, the competition aims to foster the development of clinical problem-solving skills in pharmacy students through a team-based approach. The competition is open to all students not yet licensed to practice. It reinforces the importance of the pharmacist’s role in direct patient care and enhances students’ verbal and written communication skills.

Competing teams are given two hours to identify acute and chronic medical problems and to develop a pharmacist’s care plan. Students participating in the rigorous competition must have a strong background in pathophysiology, clinical pharmacology and therapeutics, clinical laboratory data interpretation and basic pharmacokinetic principles. Michael Brodeur, Pharm.D., CGP, and Edward Allie, Pharm.D., BCPS, both assistant professors in the Department of Pharmacy Practice, judged the competition.

“Limor and Shannon have demonstrated a very high level of understanding for pharmaceutical care, diagnosis and professional demeanor,” Dr. Brodeur said. “Albany College of Pharmacy has fielded a strong team for the national competition.”

Schwarzbard is a native of Plainview, N.Y., and Rivers is from East Greenbush, N.Y.

Founded in 1881, Albany College of Pharmacy is the oldest pharmacy school in New York state and one of the only private, independent pharmacy schools in the United States. The college has a long history of serving its students and health care professionals as one of the premier pharmacy colleges in the nation. The college now enters a new era in health care with a focus not only on pharmacy, but also on pharmaceutical sciences, biomedical technology and research